Very short bonus chapter with some adorable characters coming your way! I promise I'll make the next one longer :)
Enjoy!
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August 16, 2033 - Italy
"NOVAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I smirked upon hearing two voices matched with footsteps that were making their way towards me.
We were currently in South Garda for today's trip during the summer break. The past few days were spent in Milan and we'd be leaving to head to Lake Como tomorrow. Naturally, Charles and Max can't sustain being deprived of anything race related for that long so they decided to go karting with the kids. They even got customized race suits for the children which they were a little too enthusiastic about.
"Mama, help please." Jasmine said as she held her helmet, unable to completely put her head in and making her look like a mushroom.
"Me too, mama." Mia added, standing beside her little sister.
"Where's your papa?" I asked them, beckoning for them to come nearer. Jasmine stepped forward first, bottom lip strutted out in a pout. She's been waiting for this day ever since Charles told them about it, enthusiastically putting on her racesuit the night before and refusing to take it off until she and I had a stare down.
"He's right here." I turned around to see Charles walking towards us, a helmet tucked underneath his arm. Unlike the two girls, he was wearing casual clothes— white linen pants and a blue button up.
"Papaaa." Mia whined, grinning when Charles chuckled and began fixing the strap of her helmet. The two had grown closer ever since we adopted Mia and it was obvious she adored her father just as much as he adored her.
As for Jasmine, well, she was a carbon copy of myself. Physically, she had my dark brown hair and an identical set of my eyes.
But her attitude and personality was all Charles.
She's the obvious racer between the two of them, eyes lighting up every time we watched her father race. She managed to sit inside the cockpit of an F1 car before she even spoke a full sentence. Honestly, I think Charles was hoping her first words were going to be lights out, but those thoughts disintegrated when the first word she said was papa.
That was the first time I saw Charles cry so fast as he held her.
The two were inseparable the same way Mia was attached to me. Her love for books only grew when she moved to Monaco, her room now housing a floor to ceiling bookshelf that was close to bursting. When we had Jasmine, we made the decision to move out of the apartment, wanting our kids to experience living in a house and not an apartment building. Our house was ten minutes away from Lorenzo's and fifteen from Pascale's. Arthur was actually moving into our old apartment, saying it was too good of a property to let go and sell to some stranger.
Mia was a bit shy when we introduced her to Callie and Marcus, but the two of them never let her feel left out. When we noticed Mia ask for Callie after a weekend trip to Paris with the family, we realized the two were slowly becoming best friends.
Marcus grew up to be the big brother of the group, especially when Jasmine came around. They both bonded over karting and I knew he would've loved to be here today but they were with Alice during the first half of the summer break.
"Don't go too fast, okay?" I told Jasmine as I patted her head. The little one was clearly adventurous, never shedding a tear even when she tripped and scraped her knee the other day. She just brushed it off and asked for me to clean it up before going back to play with the others.
She gave me a sheepish smile and I raised an eyebrow at her, not looking away until she reluctantly sighed. "Okay, mama." The smile she gave wasn't convincing and the glint in her eyes told me that I was going to spend the next few minutes trying not to get a heart attack.
"You're going to raise your mum's stress levels, Jas." Charles snickered, tickling the little girl and lifting her so that she could sit on his shoulders.
"Don't be stressed, mama." Mia said, pressing a finger on the space between my eyes as she moved to stand in front of me.
"Thank you, yavrum." [Thank you, my little one.] I smiled, kissing her forehead before turning back to Jasmine who was trying very hard to avoid my eye. For a three year old child, she is already a menace. "Cicegim." [My flower.]
Jasmine turned to me as if we didn't have the previous conversation. The two of us stared for the next ten seconds— the longest she's gone without blinking. She was only interrupted when her father squeezed her. "Listen to Nova." She pouted before nodding her head.
"If you behave, I'll let you sleep in your race suit." I said and I tried to hard not to laugh when she gasped dramatically and bopped her head repeatedly.
"Nova, she's going to ride with me." Charles reassured, taking a seat beside me.
"That doesn't make my stress levels go down at all."
Fifteen minutes later, the others arrived and the kids all headed to the grid where the karts had been prepared. Nate and Erick wore their own race suits as well with both the Dutch and American flags stiched on the side. The Verstappen twins were the same age as Jasmine, only a few months apart. That year was probably the most challenging for Max and Charles because Gabby and I were insufferable, especially during the last trimester.
"Hi, Aunt Nads." Nate greeted, kissing me on the cheek. Erick did the same before moving to talk to Mia while his twin brother stayed with me. "Mom told me to ask you if you'd treat me for ice cream if I won."
"And why is your mom telling you that?" I asked, glaring at Gabby who was smirking at me. She knew I'll never be able to say no to my godson and she's always used that to her advantage.
"Because you love me?" He was just as cheeky as his mother. I rolled my eyes at him and lightly patted his cheeks.
"Fine," I said, lowering my voice. "Only if you promise to smudge a little bit of ice cream on your mom's face."
"Deal."
Thankfully, the kids had fun and I didn't have a heart attack as I watched them in the sidelines. It was just us for this week, but Mick and Hazel would be joining us when we head over to France just like how we always do during the summer break. Daniel and Heidi opted to just stay in Monaco since she was nearing her due date and the couple didn't want the stress of travel to make her comfortable.
"That was fun!" Jasmine cheered, clapping her hands as Max removed her helmet.
"Wanna go—" Before he could even finish his sentence, I quickly covered his mouth with my hand and glared at him.
"Try again." I said when I let go, and I smirked when he asked if the kids wanted ice cream instead.
"You never change, do you?" He asked me as he held Erick and Nate's hands on each side while Gabby followed behind them.
"Nadia Kaplan," She said, face covered in amusement. "Still a force to be reckoned with."
"You say that as if you're not as scary as her." Charles snickered and as if to prove a point, Gabby and I both turned our heads in his direction and raised an eyebrow. "See?"
As expected, the kids fell asleep as soon as we returned to the villa we were renting after racing and the sugar rush that came with eating ice cream. Max and Gabby decided to sleep early for tonight while Charles and I cleaned up after dinner.
"Fancy a swim, Nova?" He asked, standing by the doorway of the kitchen and already holding a towel. I smiled and nodded my head, following behind me.
I took off the dress I was wearing and followed after Charles, wrapping my arms around his waist as I stood behind him. The two of us stood in the middle of the pool, wrapped in nothing but the peacefulness of the summer night. "Charles?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." I said, planting a kiss on his shoulder. I didn't even need to see his face to know he was smiling.
"For what?" He turned around, making me move my arms to his shoulders while his hands held onto my hips. "Or are you just saying you love me?" The familiar smirk formed on his face and I rolled my eyes at him, splashing him with a bit of water.
"Our thank you's are never going to be like the others, but no, that wasn't what I meant." I moved closer to him, wanting to be all wrapped up with him. He got the motion and moved his hands down to my thighs, giving me two taps before he lifted me up and wrapped my legs around his waist.
"What do you mean, then?" He asked, looking up at me.
"Thank you for loving me the way you do." I whispered, giving him a small kiss on the lips and watching as the corner of his mouth lifted up. "Eight years ago, I thought that was it for me until you came along and messed up my world even more."
"Why is this sounding like a scolding instead of a love declaration?"
"Shut up. You're ruining my moment." His laugh rung in my ears and I found myself smiling despite being irritated at him. "I think my life would be less fulfilling if I didn't move to Monaco and I wouldn't have the family we have now."
"No matter where you go, Nova, you will always strive because that's just who you are. I've never seen you lose a battle you were forced to face." His voice grew serious as green eyes looked deeply into mine. "Even if you had gone to Australia, Spain, or even Singapore, I think that in some way, I'd still find myself standing in front of you."
"You think so?"
"In all of our lifetimes, remember? It doesn't matter where the place is. As long as you're there, I'm bound to follow."
*****
✧Reese✧